The Epilogue
by lull.and.waves
Summary: Set 14 years after the end of Ptolemy's Gate. Kitty and Bartimaeus meet again, and Bartimaeus fulfills Nathaniel's last order. For the readers who desperately need more closure than the end of PG offered. :


After reading Ptolemy's Gate, I desperately needed more closure than the measly single paragraph offered, so I wrote my own Epilogue. I don't own the Bartimaeus Trilogy although I desperately wish I did, and I hope you enjoy this little piece. :)

**The Epilogue **

**Kitty**

_N__athaniel._

Kitty Jones awoke to the smell of vellum. She blinked and sat up, emitting a lazy yawn. Her bright black eyes surveyed her surroundings, no less sharp than they'd been fourteen years ago. She'd fallen asleep in the library again, reading Ptolemy's _Apocrypha_ to the best of her limited, but rapidly improving, Greek vocabulary, sketching in her books, and thinking…

Kitty rubbed her eyes and absently massaged her temple. A plush purple window seat may have served well for her naps all those years ago, when she'd still been under Mr. Button, but for a full night's sleep, all it had to offer Kitty was a sore back and a stiff neck.

Mind, things _had_ improved, somewhat, over the past fourteen years. She'd regained most of her old strength, and the creases that had once lined her skin had faded, too. At least her mind had never faltered. Kitty smirked to herself. For that, she was grateful.

Kitty peered out the window and observed London in all of its early daytime glory. The city had recovered gloriously from the demon uprising, and even now, the attack was hardly evident, save for the very distinct difference in the behavior of the overall population. People were happier, she'd noticed, commoners and magicians alike. Kitty was glad.

Kitty yawned and looked down at her well-worn copy of _Apocrypha_, trying to remember what had weighed so heavily on her mind the night before…

_Nathaniel._

A small frown screwed down the corners of Kitty's mouth. She absently brushed back a lock of her hair and looked down at her lined hands. She was thirty-three years old, now. It had been fourteen years since she'd last seen Nathaniel. Fourteen years since she'd last seen Bartimaeus. Fourteen years since she had last delved in magic of any kind.

Kitty bit her lip. Fourteen years wasn't so long.

She picked up one of the notebooks she'd been writing in and looked down at the single name she'd jotted down. _Abarlo_. A minor imp. Ever since her celebrated return to London after her thirteen and a half years of traveling the world, Kitty had wanted to do a Summons again. Just for the sake of it. She'd been itching inside, and, well, Ms. Piper had only been too glad to supply the necessary chalk…

Kitty looked back down at the notebook. Well, why not? Just for the sake of it. The relationship between human and djinni had improved remarkably ever since—since Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, and…and, well, who knew when she'd need to call one up? She wouldn't want to be rusty for when it really mattered. She had the books. She had the chalk. She might as well.

As Kitty slowly and methodically drew the simple pentacles, her mind drifted to Bartimaeus. He had died, presumably, with Nathaniel. Kitty felt a pang shoot through her chest. Nathaniel. Bartimaeus. She'd thought that the death of her friends in the Resistance had hurt, but this… She shook her head. She didn't like to think about it.

Kitty took her place inside the pentacle and began the summons. Her voice traced the Latin words with an old familiarity that gave her a deep, unbidden satisfaction. She still remembered it, all these years later.

Kitty neared the name of the imp…yet somehow, her resolve seemed to falter. She had no desire to talk to some low-level, thick-skulled imp. You meet one, you meet them all. Who she really wanted to talk to was someone with wit, with intelligence…she really wanted to talk to Nathaniel. She really wanted to talk to Bartimaeus. But that was impossible. Both were long dead.

Yet…well, it couldn't really hurt, could it?

Kitty found herself saying Bartimaeus's name in the place of the imp's. She found herself finishing the summons and waiting.

The pentacle opposite her remained empty.

Kitty sighed and closed her eyes.

**Bartimaeus**

A tugging. A pulling. A clawing.

Here we go again.

I almost wanted to groan as I felt my poor essence being siphoned away from the Other Place. I doubted that it had even been a puny decade since I'd last been on Earth. I may have been great, but even the best of them needed a little break every now and then.

Let's see…Earth. Ah. Yes. I remembered the last time I'd been on Earth. I remembered Kitty, and what she'd done for me. I remembered Faquarl—what a shame—and Nouda (now THAT had been frightening). And I remembered Nathaniel. Slick kid, he was. And an arrogant bobble head up until the very end. Until the very end, that is.

My essence began to take shape.

**Kitty**

A sudden whooshing, a tornado of air, and a deep and terrible voice from a tall, swirling column of impenetrable smoke. "_Who dares to summon me?_"

For several heartbeats, Kitty just stared. _Could it be?_ she wondered breathlessly. It couldn't be. He was dead, just like Nathaniel was. And yet…

"Bartimaeus?" she breathed.

The column of smoke halts mid-swirl, and the voice turns pitchy. "_Kitty_?" it said in disbelief.

"Bartimaeus!" Kitty leapt to her feet.

The column of smoke shrank to become a—a young boy, with pale skin and dark hair, dressed in a dapper suit and slim, pointed shoes, regarding Kitty with wide black eyes. "Kitty!" the djinn cried out. The boy's eyes were just as bright as Kitty remembered them. "You're looking better," he observed.

"_Bartimaeus!_" Kitty rushed forwards from her pentacle to throw her arms around the boy's thin, spindly neck. "You're _alive!_ You're—I—you're _alive!_"

She was met with a familiar grin. "Alive and well, I am. Until you summoned me, that is." He winked. "How long has it been?"

Kitty laughed. "Fourteen years, no more no less. I—" Kitty's smile suddenly faded; her eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly. "But—if you're alive…then what about…?" Inside her, she already knew the answer from the shape Bartimaeus took: Nathaniel's.

The boy's grin faded, too. He shook his head.

Kitty's felt leaden; she looked away and absently rubbed her eyes. "It's good to see you again, Bartimaeus," she said, stepping back and studying him. "You've changed somewhat, I see." She hesitated; then: "How—?"

Bartimaeus cleared his throat. "He Dismissed me," he said softly. "Right before the very end."

Kitty felt her throat seize up. "Oh," she whispered.

Bartimaeus coughed. "Uh, Kitty…"

Kitty looked up. "Yes?"

The boy's dark eyes regarded her with a light that was infinitely inhuman. "Nathaniel's last words…or thoughts, I should say." He cleared his throat. "He said to say hello to you."

Kitty blinked. "Oh."

**Bartimaeus**

And then the tears came.

Slowly, they trickled down Kitty's mildly lined face. Her skin was wet with them. Her eyes werebright with them.

And somehow—somehow, somehow—I felt her pain.

Kitty wiped her tears away and smiled softly at me. "So I suppose you fulfilled his last order, then, didn't you?"

I blinked. "Eh?"

Her aura was still blinding, but her smile was even brighter. "To say hello to me for him," she explained. "It was his last order to you as your master."

Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way… "You're right," I said, with a chuckle. "I did."

Kitty smiled and gestured, and together, we walked out of the front doors and sat on the steps leading to the great library, looking out over the newly revived streets of London. Kitty glanced over at me. "I'm sorry to be keeping you here, away from the Other Place," she said, lowly, "but…I guess I just need someone to talk to." She looked apologetic. "Would you be willing to stay here with me, just for awhile?"

I appraised her through Nathaniel's dark, wistful eyes. She'd regained some of her original youth since the last time I saw her; her shoulder-length hair, whether naturally or by dye, had been restored back to its shiny black color, and the lines had faded considerably from her face. Her eyes, at least, had never changed; they were as quick and bright and full of heart and intelligence as the first time I'd met her. This was the girl that had come to meet me in the Other Place; this was the girl that the boy named Nathaniel had loved, and was, in a way, my last living tie to him.

Nathaniel's lips softened into a smile, and his arm linked through Kitty's. "Of course," he and I replied, with a lighthearted grin. "Who do you think I am, to abandon a friend in need?"

And so we sat there, together, human and djinn, and for that moment at least, all was right with the world.


End file.
